The Great Transition: A personal note
I posted on our “Great Transition” with the business on our Swipe-Rite blog. Here, I get to tell you about the personal triumphs in transitioning, and hopefully, a small lesson in starting your own business.
When you have a “Big Idea” that turns into a business, chances are pretty good that your idea will quickly take on the characteristics of an infant, and you, of course, its parent. You spend every minute figuring out how best to feed, teach, and protect your precious production. And then some idiot in the grocery check-out line asks if the baby adorned in pink is “a little boy” and you nearly scream. My point is this: when something is a part of you, you are much more sensitive to criticism. You also instinctively know what is best, and when listening to criticism is a waste of your time.
Recently, our business had become a mess of miscommunication and disorganization. We were offering great products and services, but with the partnership we were pursuing, what we really wanted to do for businesses just couldn’t come to fruition. So we changed what we were doing, who we were working with, and how we were approaching, well…everything.
It was is scary. But it is also exhilarating. Small business ownership is indeed a lot like parenting. The hours are the same, the level of concern is the same, and the pride of having a successful business is probably equal to watching your child graduate from college. But the risks, the worries, and the second-guessing (Am I doing this right?) cannot be overlooked. At the end of the day, those who succeed in both parenting and small-business ownership are a mixture of smart and crazy, fearless but prudent.
Do you have a big idea? When was the last time you did something that was scary and exciting? Tell me here @AmySwipeRite